iPhone sales continue their slow and steady slide

Apple just released earnings details for the last quarter, and the company couldn't quite keep iPhone sales growing for the second quarter in a row. The company sold 50.8 million iPhones in the last quarter, down a scant one percent from the 51.2 million it sold a year ago. It's worth remembering that last year marked the first quarter where iPhone sales didn't grow year-over-year, so this decline isn't exactly a surprise. The iPhone 7 briefly managed to turn things around last quarter, but we're now back to seeing sales decline, albeit very slightly.

Despite the iPhone slide, Apple's revenue increased to $52.9 billion on the quarter, up five percent year-over-year. Some of that could be due to the Mac -- Apple sold 4.2 million Macs in the quarter, a four percent increase over a year ago. That marks the second consecutive quarter of Mac growth, despite the grumbling coming from both fans and press about the lack of updates Apple's computers have received in recent years.

Apple's third major product category, the iPad, once again failed to turn around sales that have slumped for more than three years now. The company sold 8.9 million tablets, down nine percent from the 10.25 million it sold a year ago. But Apple's services business keeps growing -- revenues of $7.04 billion marked an 18 percent increase year-over-year. CEO Tim Cook said that App Store revenue grew 40 percent year-over-year and hit a quarterly high, and Apple Music also hit double-digit growth.

And the "other products" business, which includes the Apple Watch and Apple TV, jumped up a whopping 31 percent. Perhaps Apple's wearable is doing better than people give it credit for. Indeed, Cook said on Apple's earnings call that Watch sales nearly doubled year-over-year in the last quarter.

But things are likely not going to get any easier on the iPhone front for Apple any time soon. The company's biggest rival Samsung just launched the Galaxy S8, a phone that gives Samsung a significant edge over what Apple currently offers. Naturally, loyal Apple fans aren't going to be abandoning the ecosystem any time soon (and that growing services revenue is good evidence of their loyalty), but Samsung now likely has until September at least to press its advantage.